Rusted Lady:Tale of Rogue Traders, Orks, Death korps andLove?
by PauliusTheMad
Summary: One of my first tries to make something in 40k. Inspired by the series of writing the the times when we tried to find emotions in the emotionless, faceless soldiers of Death Korps, I join the bunch with this idea...And now I put it here, for it might continue in the future, as the universe is large and there are many worlds left unexplored...


Somewhere outside imperial space.

A heap of junk that was called Rusted Lady drifted through cold space. This rogue trader ship looked worse then most, looking more like ork ship with a imperium craft on top of it, then a proper ship...Even worse - the lower part looks much better then the top one.

Inside the ship on one of lover levels of the ship a siren started roaring.  
As this happened a lone Death korp of Krieg soldier with carapace armour was standing at the end of a hall as footsteps could be heard in the distance. Few seconds later siren stopped as barrack doors opened and group of orks poured out from the room, some of them just running, some quickly putting on a helmet or a trench coat, one even running out with a sleeping snotling in his hand, held like a teddy bear. But before they reached the hall orks were ready, as they all stood in front of the kreiger in three orderly lines, fifteen orks in each row.  
But this wasn't the weird part, the weird part was that all of the orks were wearing something very similar to a standard Death korp of Krieg uniform, be it larger to fit the frame of greenskins, finished with appropriate size helmets and signature gas masks.

As orks stood in there places, Krieger looked at them and orks raised there hands to salute, followed by a sound of hand hitting metal, as three orks in second and last line fell to the ground backwards. Before it could attract Krieger's attention, other greenskins quickly picked up orks that failed to salute and put them on there feet.  
Krieger then saluted back and stepped forward to start the uniform inspection.

Commanding officer slowly walked among the rows, checking the uniform of every ork. All was in order, until the third ork of second row. Krieger looked at the greenskin from head to toes...He pulled out a saber, tapped ork's naked feet with a side the sword and looked at the orks eyes (as much as they were visible through the gas mask). Slightly shaking ork looked down at the Krieger and muttered "Squig..."  
Slowly Krieger sheathed his weapon, then pointed at the ladder leading up to the rest of the ship. Ork got message immediately as he ran out of the line, going to the armory as fast as big greenskin could.

At that time one level down a something that could be called a parody of the scene above was coming together as an ork runthearder in a crude imitation of kreiger commissar's uniform (without the signature gas mask) stood in hall, quite a bit smaller then the one above and waited for his "soldiers" to come together.  
Luckily he didn't have to wait long, as almost immediately after alarm that rang above, group of gretchins crawled out from there rooms, getting to there place in the middle of the hall as quickly as possible.  
After last of little greenskins came out of the side rooms, ork pulled out a peace of rope with ork teeth on it and started counting - for every 5 gretchins, he moved one teeth to other end of the rope. After repeating this 8 times ork moved last teeth to another end of the rope, all of his "soldiers" were here. With a toothy smile in his face ork shouted  
"To work boyz!"

Third level of the ship, Armory

Tiny room filled with lasguns, flamers, bolters, power weapons and other things of that nature.  
Laying in the chair, with his hat on top of his eyes was a man looking after these tresures.  
Said man would probably have slept for the rest of the day if not for a big greenskin that was knocking on the armory's window. Man raised his hat and looked at what was happening  
"Oh it's one of you boys" man smiled and looked at the half assembled chainsword that was laying on the table nearby.  
"Tell your mother that her sword is not ready yet, and she will have to use that saber for now."  
Ork shook his head  
"Not that? What then?" Man once again looked at the big greenskin. Ork then points down.  
"Hmm?" man stood up and walked to the window, noticing that ork was pointing at his foot. "Oh, you need a boot. What happened?"  
"Squig..." Ork replied  
"Oh...So there is nothing left to fix...Wait here for a bit, I will check the stock" man smiled, as he opened one of the doors in the back of the armory.  
"Human...Gretchin...Tau...Who put the tag for tau here?! There are no Tau on the ship!...Oh here it is ork..." Man then shouts "Hey what is your size?"  
"3" ork replied  
"Your lucky, we have a lot of those" man walked out with a big boot in his hand "Here you go, now you should probably hurry, your boss might get angry" man laughed as he watched ork putting on a boot, trying to not fall down on his side while standing on one leg.  
Once greenskin was done, he quickly ran off back into the deeps of the ship.

Quartermaster returned to his chair and laid back, once again putting his hat over his eyes, trying continue his nap. But just as he managed to settle in, someone else knocked the armory's window. Man raised his hat a bit and noticed one more gas mask outside, this time not worn by an ork.  
"Oh doc, what brings you here" Man stood up and walked to the armory window  
"You kriegers aren't the kind that lose equipment..ever..." he laughs as he looks at the gas masked man.  
Krieger quickly replied with few quick gestures.  
"You need for me to talk to a civilian?" man tries to understand the message.  
Krieger nodded. Man stood there for a moment thinking "Well captain is a bitch, kriegers don't talk and xeno might be misunderstood...". Having came to this conclusion, quartermaster opened one of the doors in the armory and walking out into the corridor.  
"Let's go, I will be the welcoming comity for this one time" quartermaster gave a small smile and followed the kreiger that requested his aid.

At that time, one floor down in the kitchen

Ten gretchin were running around in the kitchen, preparing the meal for ships crew. Two of them were roasting the meat, Three where cutting the huge fungi and vegetables of unknown origin into bits and rest were trying to take down an angry squig. Everything was overseen by an ork runtherd, who made sure none of his tiny minions would end up in a pot or get eaten by the beast that was running around in the back of the kitchen.  
All this went well until the squig eat through the wall that held it in containment and went after one of the cooks. But it seemed runtherd liked his gretchin a little bit more then most orks, as he pulled biggest cleaver from the skull holding all the knifes and threw in at the squig, embedding the blade in between it's eyes. Runtherd then jumped forward, grabbed the cleaver and used it to lift squig into the air, before slammed it into the ground, causing half of its teeth to fall out.  
But creature was still alive, so ork grabbed it by the leg and threw it into the wall, where it laid dazed long enough for gretchin to jump onto it to finish it off. Ork returned to his chair, where he watched his little greenskins working with a big smile in his maw.

Krieger and quartermaster were going through the ship  
As they walked gretchin wearing makeshift exosuit walked by them, carrying a small part of a broken turret.  
"Wait here for a sec" quartermaster said to the krieger and ran back to catch up with the small greenskin.  
"Hey friend, can you tell the Mek to take a look at the chainsword in the armory, just tell him that he doesn't need to use teeth for the chain, no mater how much he wants to..." man explained to the greenskin, before returned to the krieger.  
"So where is this civilian? Near the entrance?"  
Krieger shook his head  
"Cargo bay?"  
Krieger shook his head once again  
"Don't say you have them in a prison"  
Krieger shaked his head and points at one of the small signs on the wall.  
"Oh the hospital...Hope they are still in one peace..." man smiles as he gets to walks right next to the Krieger  
"So why is this civilian in the hospital?" man asked while looking at the gas masked man as medic opened the door to the hospital.  
Inside sleeping in one of the beds was a black haired woman, covered in bruises, cuts that were already stitched up and lots of bandages.  
"That woman is sleeping..." quartermaster whispered and tried to get out, but Krieger pushed him onto a chair and pointed at the woman.  
"Should I wake her up?" man asked silently. Krieger shook his head.  
"Then what, I just wait?" quartermaster looks confused, but kreiger nodded and left.  
"Well this will be boring..." quartermaster sits down, lays back, pulls down his hat and once again falls asleep.

Few hours later a female scream could be heard from the hospital.  
Inside it woman laid on the ground, next to her bed. On another side of the bed, next to a chair laying on the ground was quartermaster, with a scalpel sticking out of his left arm. Man slowly stood up and shouted "Why did you do that?"  
"What did you done to me?!" angry woman shouted back, crawling back, with a hand over her left eye, that was covered in bandage.  
"Nothing, damned Krieger asked me to sit next to you and wait until you wake up" man replied  
"Krieger?" woman asked  
"Death korp of Krieg quartermaster, well, former quartermaster, currently he is our doctor..." man said, getting a little carried away.  
"Where am I?" angry woman asked once again  
"In Rusty Lady, Rogue trader ship..." quartermaster replied holding onto his hand  
"Rogue trader..." woman said silently "So your with imperium..."  
"Yes..." quartermaster said "Now where is that damned doc..."  
"I am sorry...Let me help..." woman stood up, grabbed bandage from the table, rolling up man's sleave "Don't worry I am Sisters Hospitaler, we know how to fix such wounds"  
"Sister Hospitaler?" quartermaster repeated to himself silently  
"We are part of Adepta Sororita."  
"Oh..." quartermaster let out as he thought "Well we are in trouble..."  
As this woman was pulling out the scalpel from quartermaster's arm hospital door opened and a man with a familiar gas mask came in with a lasgun in hand. He was ready to shoot, but seeing there was no need to, he lowered the lasgun.  
"This is not what you were thinking...she stabbed me...I was just sleeping...next to her...in the chair!"  
Krieger pulled out a peace of paper and gave it to the quartermaster "What is this?" man opened the folded paper and started to reading it.  
"Wait what, you did it didn't you?" man turned to the krieger "You kriegers are sometimes overly effective..."  
Woman listened to quartermaster  
"Well my lady it seems I will be looking after you"  
"What?" woman finished wrapping the wound  
"As long as someone who doesn't belong to the crew is on a ship, someone from the crew must look after them."  
"Don't worry I can take care of myself" woman said as she took a step back from the quartermaster.  
"Well I am not here to protect you from them..." man smiled  
"What?"  
"Oh, nothing"  
Krieger then dropped a pile of folded cloths and a pair of boots one a table on another end of the room and waved to quartermaster to come closer. He then pointed at the pile and at the woman.  
"So I give this to her?" quartermaster asked.  
Krieger nodded  
"OK, small question, can she walk in her current state?"  
Krieger nodded once again.  
"Thanks, I have no more questions" quartermaster smiled as krieger left.

Quartermaster checked the clothes brought by the krieger, it was just a krieger uniform, just a little greener then standard and without the armor, helmet or the gas mask. Another thing that was brought it was a black eyepatch to hide the bandage on woman's left eyes. After making sure there are no weapons hidden or forgotten among the clothes quartermaster picked up the pile and brought it to woman's bed.  
"Well if I will be guarding you, may I learn your name?" quartermaster smiled as he gave the woman pile of clothes  
"Silvine" woman smiles "And name of my guard?"  
"Povilas, ship's quartermaster" man smiles as he steps back "Or am I?" he says to himself as he pulls out a note from before and quickly reads it again. "Excuse me for a bit" Povilas walked to other room, soon after load "Shizen!" could be heard from there.  
"What was that?" Silvine asked as she up on the boots, watching the man return  
"It seems I am not a quartermaster any more, well at least until you are on board , milady"  
"Oh, sorry..."  
"No problem, if I was to blame anyone, it would be our doc, he is the one who took quartermasters position...Oh well he really wanted that job" Povilas smiled and looked at the woman "So... you might be staying in this ship for a while, may I show you around the place?"  
"Do I have a choice?"  
"Well I could try to find something for you to read..."  
"Let's go" Silvine giggled and shook her head.  
This strange behavior made Povilas feel a little confused "She seems a little friendlier then sister of battle should be, maybe she got hit on the head?" he thought as he opened the door to the corridor.

"So what should I show first...Kitchen and dining hall probably, it's that way" Povilas turned to the right and set off, while Silvine walked alongside him  
"May I as a question?" woman tried to brake the silence  
"Sure" man turned his head to her  
"Your hat, it's looks a little orkish...You know the color and the symbols on it..."  
"Well it used to belong to an ork"  
"What?"  
"Yeah, a freelancer pirate that I came across long time ago. We had a small fight after which I ended up with a new hat and a pile of weapons"  
"But wouldn't ork warboss hat be a little too big for you?" woman smiled  
"Well he was not all that powerful to begin with, and they lost some boyz after there last raid." Povilas replied  
"So you got lucky?"  
"Well not really, our side did have some loses" then silently to himself "Good all of them were from inquisition..." then back in normal voice "So that band was not all that big, about 17 orks, while our side had 50 guardsmen and inquisitors. I don't remember that battle well, only thing I remember how ork boss's head was cut off by a commissars with a chainsword."  
"So why did you take the hat?"  
"No one else wanted to take it" Povilas laughed as he opened the metal door into the dining room "And here is were most of the crew eat".  
Dining room was a long hall, with a long wooden table in the middle of it, with wooden and metal chairs around it.  
Silvine walked in and looked around. Hanging on the walls or laying on the ground were all kind of trophies, like ork cybernetic limbs, few bug heads screwed to the wall, a jaw of a squig hanging by a nail and few human skulls that were attached to a throne at the end of the table.  
"Well this is a little..." Silvine tilted her head looking at the tyranid heads.  
"Unconventional, yeah, captain likes to keep her trophies here though"  
"Her?"  
"Yes our captain is a woman, well biologically, she doesn't act as one.." Povilas smiled  
"Oh...Well if she prefers that I have no right to complain, so can I see the kitchen? Just curios"  
"Maybe..." Povilas replied, thinking "Oh shit if she sees the orks..."  
Povilas jumps to the door of the kitchen "Give me a sec..." he says as he pokes his head inside.  
Inside running around the kitchen was a squig with a gretchin on top of it hammering a nail into squig's skull with an ork running behind them, ready to catch the gretchin if he was to fall off.  
Povilas closed the door "Just as always" he smiled and turned to Silvine "Sorry, they are really busy right now, better not interrupt them"  
"Ok, maybe next time, where to now?"

"Hmm...I could show you the way to the armory, in case we were attacked and you would need a gun." Povilas smiled as he walked out into the corridor.  
"How often do you get attacked?" Silvine follows him.  
"Usually, once a month, nothing much most of the time" Povilas replies as he starts walking.  
"May I ask a question?" Povilas asked on the way to the armory  
"About what?" Silvine turned to the former quartermaster  
"Well what does sister hospitaler do? I never met one"  
"Usually we are nurses, surgeons and physicians"  
"Oh, I see. It would be nice if you were to join our crew, it would be nice to have at least one doctor with gentle hands"  
"It can't be all that bad"  
"You have no idea..." Povilas laughed.  
As two turned the corned Silvine saw a very peculiar individual - a tall and wide humanoid with green skin...This ork was only wearing a pair of grey pants and carrying a stubber machine gun on it's shoulder.  
Silvine grabbed Povilas and jumped back to hide behind the corner  
"There is an ork right there" woman whispered  
"Really?" Povilas poked his head out and looks at the ork  
"What do we do?" Silvine asked a little scared  
"Let me try something..." Povilas walked out and with one hand on his stubber pistol.  
"What are you doing?" Silvine sayed, but was not heard by brave fool that approached this ork.  
As Povilas walked closer ork turned around and saw him. Ork then straightened his back and saluted him.  
Povilas saluted back and said "You are given permission to speak soldier. What is your task here?"  
"I am here to pick up my uniform" Ork replied in meaner unusual to an ork.  
"That will be all soldier, you are free to go" Povilas turned around and walked back to Silvine "It's safe to go"  
"What did just happen?" Silvine looked at him confused  
"That ork only wanted to take his uniform" Povilas smiled  
"What?"  
"Yeah, he is one of our crew members...Yeah, that might need some explaining, but first let's go the armory..."

Silvine and Povilas turned the corner and came to the armory.  
Sitting inside was a krieger, referred to as doc by Povilas. He was going through a pile of papers, filling out the list of equipment.  
"Hey doc, I hope you like this assignment" Povilas smiled as he knocked on the armory's window.  
Krieger nodded  
"Hello" Silvine waved to him  
Krieger raised his head, looked at her and went back to filling the papers  
"He is not a talkative type" Povilas smiles "Most kriegers are...Hey doc, did mek came and took the chainsword as I asked?"  
Krieger nodded  
Silvine looked inside into the armory and said "Is that a bit of a power armor..."  
"Yeah, been there even before I joined the crew of the ship, I have no idea how it ended up there" Povilas smiled as he noticed a guardsman running closer to him. Guardsman stopped in front of the former quartermaster and held out a letter "I need you to deliver this to krieger in the lower levels"  
"Can't you do it yourself" Povilas took the letter  
"Captains order" guardsman replied  
"I will believe you this time, but if I find out that you didn't have balls to go down there, you will be visiting our "friendly" doctor soon after..." Povilas pulled guardsman closer and looked into his eyes "Got it!"  
Guardsman nodded and ran off.

At that time Sivine walked to the window and looked at the krieger  
"Could I get a weapon"  
Krieger stood up and tapped a peace of paper that was glued to the glass, write on it was this:  
"Captains order:  
Do not issue any weapons to inquisitors, sisters of battle and other troops that might attack members of the crew on sight.  
Also don't issue weapon to Death korps of Krieg soldiers, before they were introduced to the entirety of the crew"

"Oh..." Silvine looked up at the peace of paper  
"What was that, oh yeah, we can't give you a weapon until we make sure you won't get into trouble" Povilas turned back to Silvine and noticed her looking up at the sign.  
"But I got some good news, you will get a chance to meet one of most powerful people on this ship, right after the captain" Man smiled as he put the letter into one of his pockets.  
"Really, what an honor, when can we do this?" Silvine turned to Povilas with a smile in her face  
"As soon as I pick up one more thing..." Povilas walks off with hands behind his back, thinking about something.

"We will need to go to lower levels of the ship to met this person" Povilas explains as he slowly walked through one of more fortified areas of the ship  
"Was that a sign "Land mines" I just saw over there?" Silvine tried to catch up with him.  
"Don't worry, only ones that are here are made for tanks...and ultramarines...We are too light to trigger them" Povilas said without moving his head  
"But who's insane idea was to put landmines on a spaceship?" Silvine now watched where she putting her foot.  
"One of the Kriegers wanted to protect this entrance route" Povilas stopped in front of one of the metal doors, with a wrench hanging on it. "Mekboyz open up I am here to take back my order"  
Door opened soon after as an ork mekboy looked down at Povilas, in the room behind him group of gretchin were putting together some sort of cannon.  
"Wat iz it boss?" mek asks  
"Boss?" Silvine ask as she turns to Povilas.  
Ork tilted his head to see her "Woss she?"  
"I will introduce you two later. Right now I am in a hurry. Remember what I asked for?  
Ork nodded  
"Are you done?"  
Ork nodded again.  
"Then give it to me and you can get back to... what ever you were doing" Povilas explained  
Ork nodded and walked back into the room, where he went through one off the piles and returned with a fine wooden box in hand  
"Thanks, see you later" Povilas took the box and closed the door. He then turns to Silvine "Now let's go and meet the commander of the orks..."

Silvine climbed down the ladder and Povilas followed her soon after as both entered the lower level of the ship where most of the orks resided. The room they entered however didn't look like it was used by orks as it was surprisingly clean, tidy and filled with strategic structures, such as machine gun nests near the exits and in corridors, armored doors and multiple turrets with a strange mix between orkish and imperium design set up on walls and the ceiling.  
There were no one in this room, except for a lone Death korp of Krieg soldier, who was just standing in the middle of the room doing nothing.  
"Where is everyone? Oh yeah, it's there free time right now" Povilas said while looking around. This attracted Krieger's attention, as gasmasked soldier turned to Povilas  
Povilas saluted immediately and krieger saluted back. Silvine did the same.  
Krieger noticed the woman and turned his head.  
"Oh, this is Silvine, Doc saved her from...somewhere" Povilas smiled as he introduces woman next to him, then walked closer to krieger and bowed forward to soldier's ear  
"She is sister of battle, I needed to show that she doesn't have to attack your soldiers on sight"  
"Nice to meet you..." Silvine came closer  
Krieger looked at her and then turned his head to Povilas, putting his hand near his throat.  
"Oh, not felling well. Silvine this is Commander O-7129... Did I get it right this time?" Povilas looked at the kreiger, who nodded confirming he was was right.  
"Commander 712..." At that moment Silvine remembered what she heard about kriegers from guardsmen - they are silent, fearless and nameless...  
"Also I brought this for you" Povilas held out the wooden box he got from the mekboy to the krieger.  
Krieger took the box and opened it. Inside the box was a surprisingly good quality chainsword, laying on top of red pillow. Commander ran his finger across the teeth and pulled weapon out of the box examined one side, then flipped it over and looked at other side. Krieger's "eyes" moved up and down, until his head stopped on an engraving of some sort. But before Povilas or Silvine got a chance to see it, sword was back in the box, which was quickly closed and ended up in krieger's hands.

A bell could be heard through the intercom followed by a deep voice "Ony humies who want to git sum grub, dis iz da time"  
Silvine turned to Povilas confused  
"Of it's launch time" Povilas smiled  
"Wait, your cook is an ork?" woman's eyes widen  
"No...a gretchin..." Povilas said slowly "We have no human personnel capable of doing this..."  
"Still...xeno makes your food..." she sighed "Is this reason why you did let me into the kitchen?"  
"Yes and no, yes it was at first, but they had a dangerous beast in there as well..." Povilas scratched back of his head.  
At that time krieger stood there observing the two.  
"Now that I know, could I meet one these xenos?" Silvine asked  
Krieger nodded and goes off.  
"Why did he left?" Silvine asked  
"I think to get one of the xeno..." Povilas followed the krieger with his head as he vanished in one of the corridors. "So are you hungry?"  
Silvine glared at him. Povilas took a step away from her.  
At that moment krieger returned with an ork behind him. This ork was wearing an appropriate size uniform identical to that Silvine seen worn by kreiger soldiers in the past.  
Silvine looked at it a little amazed and scared at the same time.  
"Did you train an ork to become an imperial guard..." Silvine finally mutered  
"Yes" Povilas smiles "Our friend here did a good work, didn't he?"  
Silvine continued to stand there amazed as she nodded slowly  
"Hey commander, could I borrow one of your boyz?" Povilas smiled while looking at the krieger  
Krieger nodded  
"Great, can he take our guest to the dining hall to meet with rest of the crew?"  
"Can't you come with me" Silvine finally managed take her eyes away from the ork  
"I have few more things to do here..."  
"I see..." Silvine replied "Then let's go"  
"Before you leave" Povilas grabbed ork's shoulder "Soldier, you have permission to speak"  
Silvine smiled as she follows the giant guardsman (or guardsork) up the ladder.  
Once both of them were out, kreiger looked at Povilas and tilted his head  
"What?" Povilas looked into the lenses  
"Commander O-7129?" krieger replied as soldier's voice was slightly muffled by the mask.  
"If I have said how I call you, she would have thought even worse about us...Mother of Orks" Povilas smiled "I still can't believe you took that name...Fact that most guards think you are a man doesn't help either"  
Krieger made sound similar to giggling  
"Your gas mask needs a repair, it started making strange sounds again" Povilas said as he turned to the exit, ready to leave "Bring it to me whenever you feel like doing it" and climbed the ladder out of the ork and krieger part of the ship.  
Once he was was gone krieger walked to her living quarters, a small room near ork barracks. There she put the box she go on the table and opened it, pulling the chainsword out of it. Commander flipped it over and read the engraving once again:  
"From Povilas with love"  
Sound similar to giggling could be heard again, as she attached the sword to her belt, replacing the rusted saber that previously hung there.

About 3 hour before Povilas's and Silvine's meeting with ork commander.  
Mekboy's workshop.  
Mekboy picked up the chainsword brought to him from the armory. It took him two hours to put the thing back together and replace all missing gears. Ork then took an old ork helmet with few bullet holes in it. He put it on the table and tested the chainsword against it. Sword shook and jumped around a bit at first, but once it got a grip, helmet was split in half secounds later  
Big smile appeared in mekboy's face as he shouted to one of the gretchin  
"Bring 'im in!"  
Few moment later two gretchin push in a guard that was tied to a chair with some wire.  
"Now tell us how to write that word!" mekboy tries to shout at the guard using his entire knowledge of gothic.  
"L" guardsman replied with tears in his eyes.  
"L" ork scribbled it down on a peace of paper.  
"O" guards man looked at the back of the ork's head.  
"O" ork scribbled down the second letter.  
"V" guard struggled in the chair.  
"V" ork repeated as he wrote it down.  
"E" guard gave up trying to escape.  
"E" ork finished the last word in the paper and stood up.  
He walked to the guardsman and freed him "You can go, just don't tell anyone, it iz a surprise" ork whispered as he threw guardsman out of his workshop.  
Gretchin then put chair back into the back of the workshop, behind half assembled killa kan, while ork sat down to the chainsword and checked the peace of paper he was scribbling into.  
"From..." Ork slowly engraves that into the side of the chainsword, after finishing first word, he looks at a name strap from Povilas uniform, that one of gretchin stole, then looked at paper again and finishes the writing "With...Love". Mek put the sword back on the table and returns to working on the killa kan in the back of the workshop.

Mekboy workshop, right after Silvine set off to Dining area with her new ork guard.  
Someone knocked on the workshops door. Mek pulled his head out of the pipe of destroyed cannon that he pulled into his workshop few days prior.  
Ork turned of the lamp off the lamp on his head and made way to the door.  
Standing outside them was a tall woman in a heavily modified officer uniform, with carapice armor underneath it. Standing next to her right leg was a snotling in a tiny suit of red knight-like armor, with a spear in his one hand a shield in the other, both tightly strapped to his hands.  
"Captain! Wat dod ya nedd?" ork stepped back a little confused.  
"Came to check on our little surprise" woman stepped inside, while little snotling following quick behind her as if it was a tiny puppy.  
"Povilas came and took it" Ork replies as he closeed the door.  
"Good, I hope you did what I asked" Captain gave a wide smile as she sat down in the chair made from peaces of an old leman russ parts and squig bones. She then grabbed her snotling and put him on her knees.  
Ork nodded as he took few scraps of paper that had words "From" "with" and "love" written on them over and over again.  
Captain snatched them from ork's hands and looked through them  
"So how many guards did you kidnap?" woman laughed  
"Three..." Ork replied as he leaned against the pile of metal sheets.  
"Only three" woman laughed and noticed the name strip "Oh I see why you only needed three. But next time you can ask my help" Captain stood up and put her snotling onto the ground. "Let's hope those two end up together, because neither of them will make the first step" Captain laughed as she tapped ork's shoulder and left his workshop.

The dinning area. Present time.  
Silvine came in, followed by the ork in krieger uniform.  
The room was filled with imperial guards, most of which were transported to another planet, all of them sitting at the giant table in the middle of the room.  
"Where do you get your food?" Silvine turned to her guard.  
Gasmasked ork looked down at her and walked inside, woman following right behind him. He walked to the small opening in the wall, that lead to kitchen. Ork pulled the metal door up and looked inside.  
Sitting inside was a gretchin in a little orkish cook's outfit.  
"What do you need!" gretchin looked away from the pan with some fungi frying in it. "Oh" it jumped up after seeing the ork. "It's not your turn krieger"  
Ork pushes Silvine into the view  
"Take your hands away..." woman shouted as he hit ork's hand "Hello, could I get something to eat?" she looks down at the gretchin  
"Of course, what would you like?" Gretchin happily stood up and looked at her  
"You don't sound like an ork..." Silvine looked a little surpeied  
"I am smart enough to learn gothic to deal with mu customers..." small greenskin replied  
"Oh I see...What could I get?" Silvina asked  
trying to smile.  
"Well we have a squig steak with local vegetables and fungi, vegetable soup, squig pie and grox shishkebab" little greenskin replied.  
"Give me the grox..." Silvine asked carefully.  
Gretchin turned and shouted to someone in the kitchen "Gimme da sword!"  
Few seconds later a rapier, with few peaces of roasted meat on the blade was thrown at the wall near the gretchin. Little greenskin tried to pull it out, but sword didn't move.  
"Hey you! Pull it out!" gretchin shouted to Silvine's guard. He leaned in, though the window and pulled the sword out with one strong pull.  
"At least you are useful for something..." greenskin took sword from ork's hands, then put it's blade's end into the plate and using giant fork he pulled meat into the plate. Gretchin then opened a pot that stood on top of a re purposed flamer, cooking inside it were steamed vegetables of all kind. He put some of them into the plate and gave it to the woman.  
"Here you go" small greenskin returned back to his work.  
"Thank you" woman slowly walked away to the table.

"What do you mean?" Silvine turned her eyes to the guard that sat in front of her  
"Last month we got attacked by ork freeboters. Have to say we got lucky - those stupid greenskins entered most fortified part of the ship"  
"Captain bridge?" Silvine guessed  
"Ork barracks..." guardsman explained "Those kriegers had an entire fort set up there, getting through there is almost impossible. So those orks came straight into there traps" man smiled "But as always, alarm turned on and we got down there to help, not that we were needed"  
"What do you mean?"  
"The gasmasked boys did a great job holding up the orks. They didn't expect greeting with heavy stubbers" man smiled as he remembered "Then first wave of xeno was gone, we were ordered to board the enemy's ship, our greenskins leading the charge...But we were not successful..."  
"How?"  
"At first we easily held off the orks, so our commissar came in, intending to take it over, but right after he gave order for kriegers to move forward, the ork boss came to us...He jumped down through the hole in the ceiling, right behind kriegers and in front of me. I tried to shoot hi, but my lasgun didn't even leave a mark on ork's chestplate, while he just looked down, laughed and punched me in the stomach. I flew almost all the way to the boarding tunnel and I swear I could hear how my ribs snapped" guardsman shutters "There I got a good view how ork threw his chain axe at our commissar, cut off his left arm and ripped off his head..."  
Silvine sat silently listening fr every detail.  
"One of the gretchin ran in and pulled me out of the battlefield, soon after that I passed out. If you want to hear rest of the story, ask the guy behind you, he might be one of those who fought together with us that time...But then again they all look same to me"

After hearing this story Silvine was a little surprised by the greenskin behavior once again. And following guardsman's suggestion she turned around and looked up at her orkish kreiger guard.  
"Where you there?" woman looked up at the gasmasked greenskin.  
Ork shook his head.  
"Do you know anyone who know about it?" Silvine tried to get him to speak.  
Ork nodded  
"I would like to meet them after we are done here" Silvine turned back and continued her chat with the guardsman, eventually forgetting what she asked ork to take her to person that might know about the battle.  
Povilas poked his head in and noticed that Silvine was chatting with the guardsman, she looked happy, so he chose to not ruin her fun, after all sister hospitaler rarely get to have some rest, or at least he thought so.  
Sounds of sawed bone and meat flying away and hitting the wall were coming out from the hospital's surgery room.  
"Hey Dok, got a free minute?" quartermaster knocks on the door. Sawing stopped as big ork, covered in blood with multiple mechanical enhancements opened the door and looked down at Povilas

Quartermaster peeked inside and saw a partly dismembered human body on the table "Where did you get that?" he points at the body.  
"From da fridge" Ork replied as he took off his bloody gloves and let man inside.  
"And how did it end up there, it doesn't look like one of our guardsman."  
"Dat ship crash" Ork replies.  
"Same one you got that girl from?" Povilas turned his head.  
Ork nodded.  
"Then it's great, can't let good thing go to waste" Povilas smiled as he walked in. He walked past the body and opened the fridge with medicine.  
"Hey, do you have something that would knock out a human, or make them fall asleep?" he opned the fridge.  
"Da first bottle on da right" Ork said as he throws corpse's arm away and pulls out a crude mechanical one.  
"I need something that doesn't turn humans green and with multiple limbs" Povilas replied  
Ork throws bottle from it's pocket to him.  
"Thanks, by the way, what are you making?" Povilas pocketed the bottle  
"Ammo" toothy smile appeared on ork's face  
Quartermaster was a little confused at first, but smile appeared in his face as well "Oh yeah, the git-cannon. Let me know when you are making test shots, I want to see that"

Evening time in the Rusty Lady  
After quite annoying day, quartermaster finally returned to his armory, ready to retire for the night...  
Povilas's room was right next to the armory, connected to it with door. Quartermaster finally reached it, crawling inside, where he sat down on the bed and was about to take off his shoes, when he heard a very familiar sound behind him - sound of a breathing through a gas mask. Povilas slowly turned around and saw a unformed man with a gas mask laying in the bed, most likely sleeping.  
"Shizen..." Povilas jumped up, waking up the kreiger in his bed, who sat up and turned to the quartermaster  
"Why aren't you back in the..." Pointed at the direction where hospital would be "Back in the hospital?"  
"Soldier must be ready in case of emergency" krieger replied, his voice muffled by the gas mask.  
"Oh wait yeah, you are the quartermaster for now...Ok, move a bit, I guess we will have to share the bed tonight" Povilas continued taking off his boots.  
Krieger stopped him and took a small peace of paper from the night table.  
"Trooper O-0028 brought this to you" kreiger gave Povilas the paper.  
"What did that ork need from me?" Povilas unfolds the paper and started reading:  
"Dear quartermaster,  
We learned of your changed position. I was told you lost your quarters as well.  
There is a free room next to my soldier's barracks, you are given a permission to use this room,  
it is present on the left of my quarters. My soldiers hope to see you.  
Commander O-7129"  
"Now was it really written by her or by someone else?" Povilas laughed as he put his boots back on. "The hand witting is too pretty to be your's or any of the orks, so unless captain was in a strange mood today, this should be real thing. Well I guess you will be sleeping alone tonight" Quartermaster waved to the krieger as he left the room.  
Quartermaster left quartermaster's bedroom, currently occupied by ships doctor and sets off to the lower part of the ship to find a place to sleep.  
Tired from a long day he almost fell off the ladder to the krieger barracks. There he stumbled around a bit, until coming up to a line of doors.  
"Wait which one..." pulled out the paper "One on the left of the commander's." he looked at the three doors once again.  
"Was that the middle on or the right one?" Povilas thought for a moment, eventually deciding to go into the room on the left.  
This time before sitting on the bed he checked if there is no uniformed man sleeping in it. This time Povilas got lucky - bed was empty.  
He once again took off his boots and "uniform" - a suit similar to death korp of kreig uniform with few "orkish" additions. He hanged it one the wall and fell asleep in the bed few minutes later.  
After about ten minutes door slowly opened as someone came in.  
Covered from head to toe in purple paint, ork mek sneaked into the room carrying someone. In his hands was a sleeping woman with a gas mask and a trench coat of death korp. Mek moved to quartermaster's bed as silently as big green humanoid could, carefully laying the sleeping kreiger next to him and silently leaving the room, closing door behind him.  
As ork returned to his workshop someone was waiting for him. Sitting next to a makeshift metal table was ship captain, drinking a glass of wine.  
"Are children sleeping?" Captain laughed as she watched mek brushing off the purple paint.  
"Yes" ork replied and sat down in front of her, picking up another glass.  
"Then let's drink in the name of the love" captain smiled as she poured in some fungi wine into ork's glass and two enjoyed it while chatting for the rest of the evening.


End file.
